>Favorite Font?

>What a great topic to discuss in order to avoid actual writing. What font do you use? Kathy S. (a.k.a. my sister) sent me a link to this great article in Slate, My Favorite Font, in which several authors discuss their preferred fonts: Jonathan Lethem likes Courier, others prefer Palatino, Times, Hoefler Text, Century Schoolbook. All of which comes as a surprise. I know a lot of people use Courier, possibly because it keeps them connected to the romance of a real typewriter, but I thought most writers used Times New Roman. As I do. Except for screenplays, in which case I use Courier because that’s industry standard. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Elisa Zuritsky, writer and producer, Sex and the City
“I talked to my therapist, and she said my love of Courier stems from my childhood. Back before I knew what deadline, hack, or rewrite meant. When the most fun I could imagine was a trip to my father’s office, where I could be alone with the IBM electric typewriter. Another chance to tickety-tick-tick something that would make me laugh. And then show it to my mom and she’d laugh, too. So, I guess my loyalty to Courier is a way for me to maintain my bond with my mother. In other words, it’s all her fault. That’s what my therapist says, anyway.”

What font do you use? Why?

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Comments

  1. >I used to use courier exclusively, but now I use Times because it has become nicer to my eyes and it uses less paper when printed out.

    I think all writers should spend some time reading slush so that they would resist the urge to use anything other than courier or times.

  2. >I posted this at another site, Cliff, on the same topic:

    I like to write in Hoefler Text, using Apple’s Pages for WP, and that’s what I use for printed MS submissions. It’s just so much prettier, it makes me happy. It’s a beautiful, readable face with non-lining figures. The differences between Hoefler and TNR are subtle enough that they don’t stand out in a bad way. I convert docs to TNR in Word for electronic subs, though, so that any problems with the MS are squarely the prose’s fault.

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